tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. a first tonight, sandy levin, a person who holds the position vacated by charlie rangel, often considered a post to be the most powerful in washington. also tonight, a conversation with acclaimed writer and producer david simon, who created shows like "homicide" and "the wire." he has a new show, "treme." that is coming up right now. >> there are so many things that

wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but, mostly, we are looking forward to helping you build stronger communities and relationships, because with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to pbs stations by viewers like you. thank you. tavis: congressman sandy levin is serving his 14th term in the house from michigan and joins us tonight from capitol hill. congressman, good to have you.

>> it is my privilege, really. thank you. tavis: over the easter break, most people went home. you, of course, voted for health-care reform. what kind of response did you get back home? >> it was a mixed response. somewhere for it, others very much against it. we need to get out the facts. -- some were for it. i think there is a need to really make sure that all of us understand what is in this bill. for example, some say government-run. this is the system of private insurance more than anything else be of some people say that washington is going to decrease healthcare -- more than anything else. some people say that washington is going to decree health care.

that is not true. to make sure we get control of health-care costs but also to make sure that 50 million people, at least a large number of them, who now have no health care will get it. i had panels, round tables in the district, and the stories that were told are really difficult to accept. people who have diabetes who cannot get insurance because of a preexisting condition. others who are laid off, and they have nowhere to turn. people have to have somewhere to turn when it comes to health care. tavis: how are democrats going to do with the message that this was a bad bill? between now and november? >> by doing what we are doing, talking with people everywhere, in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in the shopping centers and grocery stores, like i do.

just talking about what this is all about, because the din that comes from farc -- some places -- this is a free country, and there will always be differences -- that comes from some places, this is a free country, and there will always be differences. the status quo is not acceptable. we are the only industrialized country that has a huge number of people who have no health insurance, and also, costs are going up and up and up, and people cannot afford their health care, so we need to get control of health-care costs and also make sure that people are covered, both of these things, so those who have it can keep it, and those who do not can get it. tavis: being on the powerful house ways and means committee, let me start with the issue of

jobs. no one knows better than you been out of detroit that what the american people -- then you -- than you being out of detroit that what the american people need now is jobs. >> what has been happening in the report, just a few days ago, for the first time in a long time, a real increase in jobs, and i think in part, that is due to the recovery act, and we need to do much, much more. we passed a bill through the house. it is now in the senate. it will provide some assistance to small business, for example, and also help communities to create infrastructure jobs using bonds, so we have a lot to do, a lot to do. by the way, we also have to make sure that those who are looking

for jobs in this country and cannot find them get unplanned compensation insurance, and when we recessed just a few weeks ago -- for them to get unemployment compensation insurance. beginning next week, monday, a lot of people who should receive a payment for unemployment comp will not get it, so we also need to create jobs and make sure that those are not left without any assistance whatsoever. tavis: you referenced in the and in play numbers that came out last friday. being from detroit, you know this better than most -- you referenced in the unemployment numbers. african americans, specifically, they are getting crushed. the numbers on friday indicate that unemployment did not go up in the last report, and yet, we keep seeing signs of inching up more and more inside of black

america. what do we do about those americans who are hardest by this recession? >> those figures are telling. you mentioned them, and we really need to step up to the plate, and so, providing some assistance, for example, for infrastructure, to make sure that those jobs are available. also, small businesses, to make sure that within the black community and beyond that money is available for small businesses. we have a lot to do, a lot to do, because the unemployment rate has stabilized, and jobs have gone up, but we have a long ways to go, because when you include people who have given up looking for work, the unemployment rate is even worse. you know, this administration inherited a terribly deep hole, the worst since the depression, and we have been trying to dig out of this whole. it is not going to happen

overnight, but we have to keep building the foundation here, and i think this administration is determined to do it. it is often tough. there have been some tough votes here, but it took a lot because the hole was a deep, it took a lot to get out of it, and a lot of people are stuck in bulk. in michigan, for every job, there are sometimes -- a lot of people are stuck and a whole -- in the hole. tavis: the other issue that the white house is pay more attention on, the second issue being financial reform -- is paying more attention to. upset, anger, angry at the way we bail out wall street, and they are still waiting for theirs in terms of wall street -- the way we bailed out wall street.

he wants something on his desk by memorial day, , in regard to financial reform. what is going to happen -- he wants is something on his desk by memorial day, say, in regard to financial reform. >> that target is reasonable. you can have all this discussion about these targets, but one thing is clear. whenever it is done, and i think sooner rather than later, there has to be re-regulation, not thoughtless, but what happened here in the first time in our lifetimes, except for those who remember the depression, you really had a failure of the system, and we had all of these new instrumentatlities that ran wil. what the president has said is

that we cannot let it happen again. we talk about it all of the time. i talk to families, people who have lost their jobs, who have lost their homes, and i, originally from detroit, right? -- and i come are richly from detroit, right? the middle class was able to develop -- and i, originally -- i come a regionally from detroit. there is a danger -- originally from detroit. we just cannot afford to do so. that is why this is part of it, not wild, as i said, not unregulated re-regulation, but we have to make sure that what failed last time cannot fail again without our being able to

grab ahold of it before the hole is a deep. that has to happen in this town, that has to happen in this down. i hope that happens on a bipartisan basis. -- that has to happen in this town. the impact is on the people in our country. tavis: i have got just a minute or six ago, congressman. -- just a minute or so to go, congressman. there was a story in "the washington post," and there is carl levin, the powerful chairman of the senate armed services committee. you are chairman of the very powerful house ways and means committee, the first time two brothers had headed these two powerful committees since the 1800's. you are only outdistanced by

brothers in congress by a clan named kennedy, so what does that mean for you and your brother, at this point, this critical junction in america to be chairman of both this very powerful house and senate committees -- both these? >> i was talking to a colleague of mine very briefly. i think whatever else that is in this article, i think people read it, it says something about the vital nature of bonds in families and bonds among siblings. as my brother said so well in that article, nothing can take the place of love among a family and love among siblings, and i think more than anything else, that is what the article speaks to. i think so. power, that is one thing, but love of family and of siblings is more important, is more powerful than any other power, at least earthly power, at least

earthly power. tavis: i hear you on that distinction, and i accept it. congressman, good to have you on the program, sir. up next, david simon. stay with us. david simon has established himself as one of the most heralded television writers and producers, which series like the hbo -- with a series like hbo -- with series like hbo's "the wire." here is a preview of his new program, "treme." >> people think there was a

conspiracy with the levees. >> wide displaced so many working-class folks, black and white -- why displace so many? it was a national disaster, a hurricane, pure and simple. the flooding of new orleans was a man-made catastrophe, above epic proportions. tavis: david, good to have you on the show. the title, "treme," comes from? >> one of the oldest african- american neighborhoods, just in the back of the french quarter. it was the first location in which there were african- american homeowners. tavis: 7 on that title, for all of the things it could of been called -- why settle on that title? for all of the things it could

have been called? >> this show is about the cultural heart of a very unique place, a very unique american city, and treme is also generally regarded to be the birthplace of jazz, where jazz music had its origins. tavis: tell me how one goes about designing, creating a show that is unapologetically set in post-katrina new orleans? what does that mean? -- in post-katrina new orleans. what does that mean? >> it was a near-death experience for new orleans. years later, the city is well along the path to recovery, although not all of the way they're in any fundamental areas. there are still profound problems -- not all of the way they're -- there in any

fundamental areas. one of the things that brought it back more than any political or economic dynamic, because there were a lot of failures, but one of the things that worked in its favor was the culture. the culture refused to die. the mardi gras indians, the jazz, the musicians. these things, they just refuse to quit, and it was not a political act for these things to come back. it was just for people involved in it that culture, what they needed to do. whether in baton rouge or houston, they had to come home. tavis: the american people have katrina fatigue, americans can together and did a lot after the storm, but five years later, i could argue with you that

americans have katrina fatigue. i raise that to ask again haggle about convincing a major network like hbo that we should do a series about a city that america is to teach about -- i raise that to ask again how you go about convincing a major network like hbo that we should do a series about a city that america is fatigued about it. >> it was a story that i thought was worth telling, that was meaningful, to me as a writer and the other writers working on the project. that is it. you have talked to someone who has not had a hit yet, so how i keep getting into korea to give me enough rope to hang myself as an open question -- how i keep getting hbo to give me enough rope to hang myself is an open question. tavis: all of the characters,

how did you go about deciding who the cast is going to be made up of, not just in terms of the actors, but the roles? >> we are trying to capture a very unique culture. we know we have to look at the musicians, of which there are thousands in the city. the level of musicianship in new orleans exceeds any other american city, even new york or los angeles, and a lot of those guys are starving, but they are, nonetheless, great musicians, and for that, we chose wendell pierce, and for those of you who watched "the wire," he played bunk. i think if we had tried to do this without wendell, he would have haunted us down. and we were looking at the

indian culture. tradition required there to be a mardi gras indian chief. we looked at clarke peters. we looked for the best actors we can get. i am going to forget the people, but john goodman, steve zaqhn, -- zahn. we are blessed with an incredible cast, and if the show falls down, it will not be their fault. tavis: it seems to me that this is a story that is ripe for cameos. >> that is exactly right. we need to honor the real new orleans, and we have to use professional actors to convey our story, but one of the things

that we did with "the wire" that we delighted in is that we used a real police, we'll politicians, wheel st. folk from west baltimore -- we used a real police -- we used real police, real politicians, real street folk. who are you going to cast as the great chef from new orleans than the great chef? tavis: i know you said earlier that this is not a series about crime, light -- like "the wire" was, but we read the paper every day that new orleans has a crime rate that they are not happy about. it celebrates the culture but does not cover rover the

ugliness. >> right, we are going to have to -- does not cover over the ugliness. >> right, this is one of the most dysfunctionate cities. i am from baltimore. new orleans has its own vibe when it comes to mismanagement. the school system has been in disarray for many years korea now, there is no public school system. -- for many years. now, there is no public school system. the police department is under investigation by the fbi for a variety of incidents all at once. there is a lot of dysfunction. it all has to be addressed. i guess the one thing that is true is that in the first season of this show, which we are depicting, 2005, we are starting three months after the storm and going through a mardi gras. there was very little crime. -- going through mardi gras.

there was a strange situation in which people felt that the crime had not gone away until the summer of 2006, so i think you will see us addressing that particular problem in the second season, god willing, if there is a second season. tavis: i cannot imagine the fun that you can have when you get to that part of the store where the super bowl victory plays into all kinds -- that part of the story where the super bowl victory plays into all kinds of things in new orleans. >> i had the great fortune to be here when they won. i am a ravens band, but it is hard not to root for the state's -- i am a ravens fan, but it is hard not to root for the saints. it has been profound and a delight, and that will be about

a season five of our show. we were filming a lot of -- that would be about -- will be about season five. one of our great problems with keeping the amount of saints gear, all of the jerseys, just keeping it out and shot -- out of shot. that was a battle. we spent a lot on tgi. tavis: the slummy side is katrina itself. i know this is set in post- katrina new orleans, but to what extent is the storm a character in the series? >> the storm is sort of an implied character. the first season is in many ways about the people not there, the people absent. in the aftermath of this storm,

fewer than half of the people were able to get back. there were whole neighborhoods in which rebuilding had not arted. the fema effort was marginal and slow. the money did not arrive with not a lot of paperwork and a lot of weight. the insurance industry was nonexistent -- and a lot of wait. there was a response, but it was, "thanks for the money, but we are not paying." people are unwilling to let go of the idea that this is their home, this is their culture, and yet, very little help is coming in, and i do not want to suggest everything is as it should be now. there is a fight now to save charity hospital and to not have whole tracts of the city given over to redevelopment, when, in fact, that we development would not be in concert with what new

orleans is culturally. the fight for what orleans will be is still going on. this is in the hope we will go forward and be able to tell the story fully by telling the event on the ground. tavis: david simon is the guy behind -- we will claim it right now, the new hbo hit. david, good to have you on the show. >> from your mouth to god's ear. tavis: that is our show. thanks for watching, and keep the face. -- keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i am tavis smiley. join me next time with benjamin barber.

that is next time. we will see you then. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, like helping people live better, but, mostly, we are looking forward to helping you build stronger communities and help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ >> and by contributions to pbs stations by viewers like you. you're a pbs station fromthank you. your previous edition kcet public television] national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-